Dogs in Seoul, South Korea, will be spared the knife and cooking pot as the city is now a slaughter-free zone, Humane Society International Canada says.
The HSIC has been working since 2015 to end the barbaric practice where the dogs are kept in overcrowded cages before being sent to market where they are beaten to death, hanged or electrocuted.
In the last five years, the HSIC has rescued 1,800 dogs and closed 15 dog-meat farms in South Korea.
On Wednesday, the organization announced the last three dog-meat facilities in Seoul have agreed to close after a yearlong campaign working with local officials.
“I am so happy to see Seoul’s last remaining dog-meat shops end dog slaughter,” said Nara Kim, dog meat campaign manager for the organization in Korea.
“It gives me hope that South Korea’s future is dog-meat-free … one day we can celebrate the closure of South Korea’s final dog slaughterhouse.”
The practice of eating dogs is declining in South Korea, mainly among the younger population. A June 2018 survey showed 70% of South Koreans will not eat dogs.
“Having witnessed the horrors of the dog-meat trade first-hand, I am thrilled to see South Korea move one step closer to ending this brutal industry,” said Rebecca Aldworth, executive director of the HSIC.
The HSIC works with farmers to transition out of the dog-meat industry. They sign legally binding contracts with the dog-meat farmers to permanently shut down and provide assistance to more profitable business models such as medical herb farming, water parsley farming to blueberry farming.
The organization also promotes an education campaign. Many Korean keep small dogs as pets but have a misconception that meat dogs are different from pet dogs.
The HSIC is sheltering and caring for over 60 dogs recently rescued from meat farms in Korea and aims to find them permanent homes.
The HSIC says an estimated 30 million dogs are brutally killed each year in Asia.
Google_Earthlings on November 3rd, 2019 at 20:26 UTC »
In Korean medieval times they had a lower caste, bakjeong who slaughtered animals, the higher classes considered it barbaric but were happy to eat the meat.
The dissonance seems obvious to us, but we have an almost identical system nowdays, where everyone claims to value animal welfare, yet very few will change their lifestyle in order to avoid harming animals.
SatanicMushroom on November 3rd, 2019 at 18:10 UTC »
Can someone explain to me why it is considered somehow more unethical to eat dogs than other animals? Pigs for example are indisputably more intelligent. And yet most of us still eat bacon.
Edit: thanks for the replies folks. Seems like the broad consensus is that it’s just a quirk of western culture. Moral of the story: if you find the thought of eating dogs repellant, you might want to consider going vegetarian if you haven’t already.
Also edit: why tf would you give this gold - go plant some trees or something lol
Debaser626 on November 3rd, 2019 at 17:01 UTC »
The last one in Seoul.
According to my family there, dog isn’t really consumed in most areas in Seoul anyway. Head out to the countryside though, and it’s not uncommon at all to see it still.
Anecdote: I inadvertently had dog meat at a roadside bus stop in the mountains.
My cousins were trying to warn me against getting the bulgogi there... (some bumfuck windowless cement building with holes in the ground for lavatories) but I was starving and there was another 3 hours to our destination.
Just as I was taking my second bite, I saw a small pickup truck pull around back... with a cage on top jammed full of dogs.
It actually wasn’t that bad... tasted and spiced quite similar to the beef bulgogi you get in korean restaurants state side.
I mean, I still eat western livestock, pork and whatever... so same shit in the end.